Here's a question I wish more grill buyers asked:

“What am I actually going to cook on this thing?”

It sounds obvious, but your favorite foods can tell you a surprising amount about the type of grill you should buy.

If You Love Steaks and Burgers

Steaks and burgers are classic grilling foods.

For these, you generally want a cooking surface that gives you good access to direct heat and enough room to arrange your food.

A traditional grate works well for someone who enjoys watching the food, moving it around and controlling different heat zones.

If your weekend usually means burgers, steaks, sausages and hot dogs, a conventional grill may be exactly what you need.

What About Chicken and Vegetables?

Chicken and vegetables give you a little more flexibility.

Chicken can be grilled directly, cooked more slowly, or combined with indirect heat depending on the cut.

Vegetables can go directly on the grate, into a basket, onto skewers or into cookware.

This is where your cooking habits start becoming important.

If you like experimenting with different foods, you may want a grill that isn't limited to one cooking method.

Are You a Kebab Person?

Now we're getting into a different kind of grilling.

If you love kebabs, skewers, satay or other foods cooked on sticks, the physical design of the grill matters.

A traditional horizontal grill puts skewers across the cooking surface.

A vertical grill takes a different approach.

The YANFLAMMA Smokeless Grill, for example, places skewers around a central charcoal core. Its design allows food to cook in a vertical, indirect-heat environment, and the included system can hold up to 28 skewers at once.

That doesn't mean vertical cooking is automatically better.

It means it may be better suited to someone who cooks a lot of skewers.

That's the distinction you should be looking for.

What About Slow Cooking and Smoking?

If your dream weekend involves brisket, ribs, pulled pork or long smoking sessions, you should pay close attention to grills designed for low-and-slow cooking.

Pellet grills, for example, combine grilling and smoking and use automated temperature controls on many models.

A traditional charcoal grill can also be used for indirect cooking and smoking, depending on its design.

But if slow cooking isn't something you'll actually do, don't pay extra for a feature you'll rarely use.

Cooking for Two or Cooking for Twenty?

This is another easy mistake.

A huge grill sounds great until you realize you're usually cooking dinner for two people.

On the other hand, a small portable grill can become frustrating if you're regularly feeding a large group.

Think about your normal cooking situation rather than your biggest barbecue of the year.

If you host a large party twice a year, you may not need a massive grill sitting outside for the other 363 days.

Everyday Cooking or Weekend BBQ?

Ask yourself how often you'll use the grill.

If you want to grill several times a week, convenience becomes extremely important.

If grilling is mainly a weekend hobby, you may be happy to spend more time lighting charcoal and preparing the grill.

Neither approach is wrong.

That's the point.

The right grill starts with the food you actually want to make.

Before buying anything, make a list of your five most common grilling foods.

If they're mostly burgers and steaks, look one direction.

If they're ribs and brisket, look another.

If they're kebabs, skewers, vegetables and mixed dishes, a multifunctional or vertical design may deserve a closer look.

Your menu is one of the best clues to your grill.